Pookastone Scowle a wall of threads

For @Skoll only. Takes place after he sees Macha. Sven is outside of PS territory.

the devil is & always will

His eyes scanned the beginning of the expanse that Morganna had claimed for herself, an interesting if not wholly unappealing place. It suited her, he decided, and was thankful that she had not only given more than a day of travel between herself and the Ridge but also placed the lake in that path as a natural barrier. It made him feel more assured that she wouldn't be constantly slinking around their door and trampling their gardens, so to speak.

Was a nice journey to make for visits, too. A decent stretching of his legs without dragging on and taking up too much of his time. Still, he would need to leave by the afternoon; the pregnancy was still early, of course, but he did not want to leave @Leotie unattended all the same. Right now, she was his sun and @Ravenna his moon. The only reason he was taking this time at all was because, well... it was significant news, wasn't it? His first litter, his father's entry into grandfatherhood, and if Elettra was still with them, she would be made a great grandmother. It was a wholly new generation, and therefor worth announcing.

So Sven tipped his head back, and asked for one wolf alone: Skoll Archer.

be a gentleman.

(This post was last modified: Mar 22, 2018, 06:46 PM by Sven.)

Gods, his sleep schedule was getting out of whack. For the most part, it wasn't that he didn't trust Celandine; it was mostly due to his want to keep an eye on her and see to her every need. Given that she was quite the independent personality, though, he often found himself hanging back and simply shadowing her steps (when his eyelids weren't heavy with sleep and his legs didn't feel like rotten logs ready to crack and plummet to the forest floor). Today, he wasn't feeling too bad. He even had the chance to outsmart a zealous snowshoe hare. It had been clear her head had been elsewhere - like the Lore wolves with her thoughts riding the highs of the Breeding Season - and her misfortune of being caught unaware had been Skoll's advantage. He thought he was going to be gifting it to his new Leader, but as Sven's familiar call rang out into the Scowle, he changed his mind.

Careful to navigate between the moss-covered boulders and slush-covered pathways, the older Archer picked his way through the trees until he saw his ivory-coated son. At first, his tail hung in the air, nearly parallel to his spine. It was going to wag sooner or later, being reunited with his first-born and all, but Skoll wanted to look him over first. Just as he did with the others.

He crossed the invisible line between the places where Morganna, Niles, and Celandine had marked. He was outside their territory.

A muffled bark was given as he stared at the state of Sven's coat, seeing the scars that criss-crossed and the glimmer that shone in those pale eyes. It was clear something was up. Skoll slowly dropped the mottled hare on the ground in front of him before stepping over it lightly touching the left side of his muzzle to Sven's right. Had they been human, he might have outstretched his arms, just waiting for a hug. For as far as wolves could go, this would have to do and Skoll expected nothing more and nothing less.

There was a small smile on his bloodied lips, his tail caught in a gentle sway like a flag in the Spring breeze, "Long time, no see." His voice sounded tired; it was something he couldn't help, but there was a warmth in his tone that could not be misread. There were smells and scents that mingled with the young adult's coat, but Skoll never missed a chance to exercise his brand of social graces, "How are you, Sven?"

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

the devil is & always will

Sven was not shy about greeting his father back, muzzle knocking into Skoll's in the same rough affection that he often showed Ravenna. It was the first he'd seen of him since leaving the Dell, before the decline that ushered the man and his children away from the coven. If he had known how swiftly downhill things would go, if the women hadn't stubbornly kept him from seeing the truth of the pack's methods, he would have stayed. As it was, he remained blissful in his ignorance, noting only that his father looked a little off (unknowing that this was an improvement) and attributing it to all the travel Morganna must have put him through.

"Well; back on top. Feels good to be where I belong," he answered conversationally.

"You holdin' up under Morganna's fat rump?"

be a gentleman.

To hear that his son had managed to retain his throne, at the head of Willow Ridge, only had Skoll's chest full with pride. As a father, he felt he had accomplished his first task: if he could not overtake Angier's place, his son would be the one to do it. And, so, here Sven was... handsome, mature, healthy and robust, and a Leader to boot. Skoll's tail waved, the affection returned in kind. If only @Piety could have seen what good they had given to their little stretch of Relic Lore...

"You holdin' up under Morganna's fat rump?"

This conjured a chuckle from the dark Archer's jaws. "As best as I can manage," he smiled. He might have actually joked that he might have held up Morganna's fat rump, but he kept it to himself, which only widened his silvered grin. "What brings you out west?" As much as he wanted to sit and have a nice, long chat, Skoll remained standing, uncertain for how long his first-born would stay for a visit. "A special occasion, perhaps?"

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

the devil is & always will

This felt good, the way things were between them, and while he'd never say it aloud, he suppose he felt thankful to @Morganna in that moment. His father could never come home after all that had happened, not under Sven and @Ravenna's reign, but at least he was nearby, at least Sven could still go to him and talk with him. At least he had one parent that had never failed to show him the love he'd always so desperately craved.

He wasn't just a son talking to his father, however, a young child who was needy and tumultuous; he was an adult now, and the two stood as equals. A tickle of pride swept through his chest as he silently acknowledged how far they both had come to those earliest days on the outskirts of the Ridge.

"Yeah I've uh, got some big news actually. I'm having a litter with someone. You're going to be a grandfather."

Another smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Think you're ready for it?"

He couldn't be sure how at peace Skoll was with his own age.

be a gentleman.

"Yeah I've uh, got some big news actually," Sven relayed. Skoll's ears swiveled forward, eager to hear what his son had to say. "I'm having a litter with someone." Inside his chest, Skoll could hear his chest and stomach balloon and freeze in place. Sven being at the head of Willow Ridge and making up for all of Skoll's own shortcomings left room for only pride and the sort of satisfaction only a parent could experience in their eldest child. "You're going to be a grandfather."

His tail waved about and a genuine smile appeared on his face; it even touched the corners of his eyes (which was a rare occasion these days while he continued to settle down in the Scowle). "Sven, that's..." he bowed his head, struggling for once with how to manage himself. How time flew by... He swallowed, his eyes seeming to glisten when he was able to hold Sven's gaze again. "That's wonderful news. Congratulations."

The youth's smirk was returned and he gave a laugh when his son asked if he was ready. "I managed with you, didn't I?" he jested. "Whenever, um..." He supposed he spoke too soon, thinking he was able to maintain himself. Wasn't Sven just that tiny little ghost tucked away on the edges of Willow Ridge the last time he looked? When had he gotten so tall and as handsome as all Archers come?

"Whenever they're ready to come explore, they're welcome to visit." His smile softened. For Sven to have reached this milestone meant that the rest of his brood would soon follow, starting with Attica, his Dell litter, and then Anduin and Vaeda (though, the latter, he was certain he would be quite old by the time they settled down). In the meantime, this accomplishment was a jewel in his bent crown, a sign that he had done all right in making a place for his first-born son in the world, and he had more than Skoll ever had...

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

the devil is & always will

Pride. That had always been their strongest connection, the best piece of himself that Skoll had imparted to his son. Pride in their lineage, in their home, in their deeds; it may not have worked out the way the older Archer had planned, but despite all the turmoil during his first two years, it had ended up giving Sven all he had wanted. Well, nearly all, but those parts that were absent were no longer missed. The scarred man had learned instead to live without them, to be happy despite their truancy, to fill the wholes they'd sought to leave with other things. Things that proven to be far more precious in the end.

Now that pride welled between them, as Skoll displayed nothing but delight in the news his son had shared with him. Sven's firm smirk fell loose into a toothy smile, genuine and stainless.

"Of course," he agreed as his father extended welcome to the unborn babes. Sven would want them to know their grandfather, to hopefully be some kind of close with him despite the distance between the two packs. He hoped too that Skoll would be here to stay, that he wouldn't off again or be dragged away by Morganna. Sven supposed he'd take what he could get, however.

"I uh. Yeah... I just, thought you might like to hear that. Guess I'm a bit nervous about it too."

As genuine as the words were, they were spoken tentatively; he couldn't remember the last time he'd shared anything close to a feeling with his father. Not since those earliest days, crying for his mother with only the darker heir to hear him. There were questions on his tongue, far more to it, but he paused for a moment, wondering if they were really worth asking. It'd been so long since he had looked back.

"How... how'd you feel, when you knew it was real? ... you ever been scared, dad?"

be a gentleman.

All ears, Skoll continued to listen, still beaming... still eager to implant this moment in time into the folds of his memory to treasure for always. Though he had only just reached the prime of his life, as most wolves did at his age, he was going to become a grandfather though his eldest son. Sven's words did little to shake the joy from his face. In fact, the nervousness was something he had expected. Elettra and Angier had done little to prepare him for the ups and downs of parenthood; the least he could do was simply be there for the younger Archer.

"How... how'd you feel, when you knew it was real?" the youth then asked. The right side of Skoll's mouth twitched as though he were remembering something from long ago, his eyes glossing over briefly as if Sven had transported him back to that very moment when word of Sven's impending arrival had been announced to the whole of Willow Ridge. "... you ever been scared, dad?"

He supposed now would be a fitting time to sit for a bit. His ears tilted back a bit but his silvered grin never left his muzzle - just the old bones settling, a gesture not meant for Sven to feel obligated to stay. His grey eyes lingered on Sven's own for only a second before they averted elsewhere and focused on the spring-green trees. "I don't like to admit it, but..." it was as if he had choked on the word, but a brief clearing of his throat allowed him to continue, "yes, I have. Perhaps, ever since we knew that we, your mother and I, were going to have you."

His throat felt tight; he swallowed hard as he composed himself with half a sigh. His little smirk only partially recovered, "That's what life does to you. It scares you; but when it does, that's how you know when you have something... good." A slight pause as he glanced down at Sven's off-white paws and noted just how big they had gotten. He imagined just how tough and calloused those once puppy pink pads had become and stared at how long and dark Sven's nails had become. "Then you do what you can to keep it." There was a small twinkle in his eye as he gave the whole of the Leader's face another glance, "When it came to you, though, I knew everything was going to change and I did what I could to prepare for it. It comes in waves - the fear, the excitement, the sadness, the fury - and it will take time to get used to it. Just ride it all out and you'll be fine... In time, you'll be able to look back and see for yourself what exactly comes back to you."

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away